Acoustic Space: 

If you are looking for the freshest food on the 5 Claremont Colleges, look no further than the grove house, right across from the clock tower on Pitzer’s campus. It is well worth waiting in the line which often starts forming as early as 12:30, one hour before the Grove House starts serving lunch, for the sandwiches, prepared with love by students, are truly life changing.

Source: http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/grovehouse/history.html

The Grove House was built in 1902 in the Craftsman style of architecture, and eventually moved from its original location onto Pitzer’s campus in 1977. Its beautiful hardwood floors, comfortable Craftsmen style furniture, and umpteen windows, small and large, give the space a relaxed and open, yet  contained and cozy feeling. Pitzer residents and visitors alike use the Grove house for a multitude of purposes. By day students study about the house, work in the kitchen preparing food for the community, and wait patiently in line for their chance to order a truly magnificent and fabulously fresh culinary creation. By night various clubs use the space for meetings and events are held on a weekly basis such as Story Slam, FemCo and Groove at the Grove. It is a hub of social activity on Pitzer’s campus and home to fond memories for many members of the Pitzer community.

For this recording I used the TASCAM DR-40 Sound Recorder

After waiting in line since 1pm and ordering a delicious Grove House sandwich I sat down to eat  at the small table next to the ordering window to eat and record the soundscape. I used the small tripod to steady the TASCAM DR-40 during the duration of the recording and situated myself about half way between the half door in the front where orders are taken and the half door in the

back where customers names are shouted and delicious sandwiches are happily received. I started recording at 1:45pm and captured the soundscape of an average busy day at the Grove House. It is not surprising that a wandering Grove House customer might meander outside, thus causing the cooks to repeatedly shout their names, but it’s not awkward since the environment is so friendly. A keynote of the space is the dull hum of cooks in the kitchen, and various signals are present in the repeated calling of customer’s names and responses of “I’m coming!” There are no specific soundmarks in this recording, nothing unique to the space that necessitates preserving, however the calling of names could be seen as an archatype as it it a fairly common form of customer service in the food services industry.